The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTCP) announced today:
MTPC is buttressed by milestone grants, including a $25,000 Civic Engagement Grant from Boston Foundation and $25,000 total in four phases from Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC), including $10,000 immediately as a challenge grant to urge other organizations to follow suit. Other contributions are being made by MTPC’s legislative partners MassEquality, Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association (MLGBA), Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) and AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, Inc. (AAC).
Considering the gap that has been created by the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) support of a non-inclusive ENDA, the timing of such an acceptance of funds seems ill timed. The fissure between the transgender community and HRC is so expansive that long time activist, California Assembly’s 2003 “Woman of the Year”, and San Francisco Police Commissioner, Theresa Sparks recently returned the HRC Equality Award that she received in 2004. According to the Bay Area Reporter, Sparks said:
‘It no longer symbolized equality to me,’ Commission President Theresa Sparks told the Bay Area Reporter upon exiting the two-hour meeting, held January 5 at the LGBT Community Center. ‘It’s a matter of their integrity and not following through and my own integrity.’ Sparks said that she could no longer stand to even look at the etched glass award when it was on her credenza. She received the award in 2004.
Anger from the transgender community burned white hot against ex-Largo city manager, Susan Stanton after she was quoted in the St. Petersburg Times:
Eventually, she decided it was too early for transgender people to be federally protected. People need more time, more education, she says. ‘The transgender groups boo me, now, when I speak. Isn’t that ironic?’
‘But I don’t blame the human rights groups from separating the transgender people from the protected groups. Most Americans aren’t ready for us yet,’ Susan says.
Her presence at the HRC Logo debates in August and her recent speaking engagement at an HRC sponsored event in Chicago raised many eyebrows of transgender activists. But it was her comments in the St. Petersburg Times article that caused the community to see Stanton as an agent of the HRC.
The anger against the HRC has even reached the National Center For Transgender Equality’s Board of Directors. According to the Washington Blade, the usually dispassionate Meredith Bacon was quoted saying:
‘[A]s the chair of the NCTE Board of Directors, I can assure all who read this blog that NCTE will not work with HRC in the foreseeable future, until the current leadership is completely purged, and until we are convinced that, unlike its predecessors, any new HRC leadership is totally committed to working for transgender rights,’ Bacon wrote. ‘As long as HRC is controlled by and is dependent upon white, rich, professional gay men, such collaboration may never occur,’ she wrote.
Is todays announcement by MTPC a sign that the community’s anger against HRC is lessening, or will the transgender community see this as a “deal with the devil”?
16 Comments, Comment or Ping
Kathy
Excellent!
“The Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey (GRAANJ), a statewide organization that promotes the rights of transgender and inter-sex people, announced this week that it intends to return the unspent portion of a $3,500 Equality Grant given it by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC),”
http://gaycitynews.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=17005679
If only NJ followed MTPC’s example - they’d have transgender inclusive employment & hate crimes laws today.
Jan 10th, 2008
Rebecca Juro
Uh hey Kathy? We do have those laws on the books today. In fact, our legislature just passed a trans-inclusive hate crimes bill this week. And we did it with our self-respect intact.
Jan 10th, 2008
Polar Bear
Part of me says to shove the money back up Solmonese’……no, he’d enjoy that too much, that
would be the ultimate orgasm. The other part says
take the money, and use the hell out of it to pass
gender inclusion into their existing ENDA and hate crimes laws, knowing HRC will take credit for doing so. Is it more important to win, or to be ethically correct? For certain, if the money is kept, it should be used for T enhancement in present laws, and legislation like anti-real-ID
legislation that would only peripherally benefit
rich GL people. My personal ethics would dictate that I give it back, but each person must develop
their own code of ethics.
Jan 10th, 2008
Rebecca
*sighs*
some folks in the trans community just never learn.
Jan 11th, 2008
Felix
What’s a credenza?
Jan 11th, 2008
Samantha Davis
It’s not about ethics or anything else like that. The minute you start accepting money from someone or some organization you become dependent on them, especially when you are an organization that relies on donations to operate.
Jan 11th, 2008
Ethan St.Pierre
Becky,
Can you say…s.a.r.c.a.s.m.?
Jan 11th, 2008
Stellewriter
It really doesn’t matter what any Trans-advocacy group does in relations with HRC. It does not matter what HRC may do. All though they have done nothing of merit for us. What matters is how the Transgender community comes together. What matters is how each Transgender person takes responsibility for their actions and needs. What matters is how we, the Transgender, stand up for each other…..
Until we speak for ourselves with one face and one voice, we will continue to be the fodder and sacrifice for HRC and the greater GLBt. Till then we have no voice, and noting else matters.
Stellewriter
Jan 11th, 2008
Stellewriter
It really doesn’t matter what any Trans-advocacy group does in relations with HRC. It does not matter what HRC may do. All though they have done nothing of merit for us. What matters is how the Transgender community comes together. What matters is how each Transgender person takes responsibility for their actions and needs. What matters is how we, the Transgender, stand up for each other…..
Until we speak for ourselves with one face and one voice, we will continue to be the fodder and sacrifice for HRC and the greater GLBt. Till then we have one voice, noting else matters.
Stellewriter
Jan 11th, 2008
Kathy
I know i can ;~)
Jan 11th, 2008
Alex
Actually, it really *does* matter what trans-advocacy groups do.
Whether right or not, the ‘trans community’ as a whole is currently perceived as having a bone to pick with the HRC. Some believe it is justified, others do not. (I could give them a million reasons why it *is,* but that’s not the point of this post.)
So if one group accepts HRC money while another is decrying their actions on ENDA, how does that portray a united community?
But perhaps you were addressing this as someone not connected in any way to the MTPC(?). As the program coordinator for a local GLBTIQ youth group and also a program for trans identified youth, I’m disappointed. As a Massachusetts resident and a contributor to the MTPC, I’m appalled.
If we are drawing the line in the sand with the HRC over the trans-inclusive ENDA debacle, what does it mean that we are A) willing to accept funding from the HRC or B) willing to support an organization which works on our behalf in accepting those funds?
“Principles only mean something if you stick by them when they are inconvenient.” (from the film the Contender, in case you were curious)
Yes, there is that little part of me that says, “Take the money and run!” but it’s never like that. There are always conditions to be made and followed, and there is always the consideration that the contributor will use their financial generosity as a sign of devotion to the cause.
I could go donate money to the RNC if I wanted. I could do so in the hopes that a Republican would win the election, and that I would be able to claim that I had something to do with that. “See?,” I would be able to say, “I was right!” But does my financial contribution mean that I truly support the RNC or their work?
Bottom line for me is that until the HRC has spent the time to do some serious work on their *internal* processes re: trans issues, I will not trust their actions in the community. And I will not be pleased to support a trans-advocacy organization that readily accepts HRC funding and gives them free “trans-positive” press.
Jan 11th, 2008
Polar Bear
It’s all about ethics: if you feel, as I have for 11 years now, that HRC is antitrans and
a pack of liars, you don’t take their money.
I wouldn’t take HRC money for any organization I associate with. What others may do is up to their ethical code. I don’t know what’s up in Mass, activism-wise, the decision is up to them, but I cannot imagine a scenario in which
I’d take HRC’s filthy money.
Jan 11th, 2008
Rebecca Juro
So can I, but considering the wide range of opinions of people who common on blogs, and it being posted under the name of as common a name as Kathy, it’s hardly something one can simply presume based on what you posted.
Jan 11th, 2008
Stellewriter
Let me say it another way! I do not believe that the separate and disjointed actions we have are making the difference that is needed. Until the Transgender Community comes to a single presentation and focused set of initiatives, it will be chaos continued and the infighting will continue to be fueld by GLBt and HRC for self interests.
Yes, at stonewall the Transgender stood up and made a stand. However, since we have not stood alone, and it shows. Should we, the transgender, come to a common cause and hold solid, then I say work with others. But as long as we are fragmented, we are fodder and a joke to everyone else. HRC, the greater GLBt, Congress at large, religious conservatives, and main stream public sees us as freaks and wierdo’s. Worse we are portrayed as sexual deviants and a danger to all of society. Why do you think that is after 40 years of activism?
No matter what we do, if divided, it will fail. You do not see that in the gay ranks. Even when they are wrong, they gather and sing their tune of “We have our Rights….” They gather and harrass, they put pressure to bear politically where ever they can.
We are divided, we are not willing to lock arms. Perhaps, Susan Stanton may have a perspective and view we should take seriously, instead of our interal and now public wrangling!
I agree with you that “IT DOES MATTER”, but only if we matter to each other, and we are undivided. Stellewriter
Jan 11th, 2008
Rebecca Juro
As someone who was a member of GRAANJ when the org decided to return the bulk of a $3500 grant in ‘04 because of discomfort with HRC’s gameplaying, I know there are two sides to this argument.
Of course, like most, the emotional side urges me to encourage MTPC to tell HRC where to shove it.
And yet, the other, more analytical side reminds me that $25K could do a lot of good for an organization and a community which their own state’s G&L orgs are turning their backs on in the post-same-sex-marriage era.
At the same time, there’s the trust factor, though. The reason GRAANJ members voted to return that money was because it was felt that taking money from an organization actively working against our best interests wasn’t something most of us were comfortable with. What we returned, however, was a small amount compared to this, and I believe it was quickly replaced by donors who supported what we were doing and the message we were sending.
I can’t help think about all the good that money could do for the community if used wisely, a community I’m sure could use that kind of help right now. That’s where I can’t help focusing, even given all I know about HRC and what I think of them.
I think we have to see the other side of the coin here. As long as the money is given with no strings other than that it be used to further the cause of trans rights in Mass., I’d say take the money and use it for exactly that. Furthermore, call HRC and tell them to have their politicos pick up their phones and start calling favors to get that Massachusetts trans rights bill passed. They’ve got plenty of connections in Massachusetts politics and they can use some to help leverage things.
Let Massachusetts be a model. This should be a scenario where HRC comes to the Massachusetts trans community and says “Here’s some money. What else can we do to help?” and the transfolks say “Here’s a list. Get cracking.”.
They broke it, or, at the very least, they played lookout while others broke it. Morally and ethically, they should be trying to do what they can to fix it. If HRC is trying to make themselves look good by helping some of our own who need the help, I say let them, but only in a support, not leadership, capacity.
Let’s not only take their money, let’s squeeze them for everything their worth to us. If they’re this motivated to help transfolks right now, lets use that to our advantage as much as is humanly possible while it’s still available. You know helping transfolks isn’t going to remain trendy and fashionable in their circles for very long.
This community’s activist infrastructure desperately needs funding. Where better to get it from than the organization most committed to keeping that infrastructure repressed and powerless?
Jan 14th, 2008